


Unexpected Developments

by BookishBeaux



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 09:36:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18385790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookishBeaux/pseuds/BookishBeaux
Summary: When the Saviour and the Evil Queen finally start to realise their happy ending, forces working against them threaten to rip them apart. Can True Love's Kiss really break any curse?Rated M for later drama and violence. Long run dramatic and angsty SQ fic.





	Unexpected Developments

“Emma, sweetie are you sure about this?” The sheriff looked across the table at her mother and resisted the urge to sigh into her morning coffee. This was about the third time this week Snow had started the same conversation.

“Mom, I’ve told you, it’ll be fine okay?” Emma said, trying her best to give her mother a reassuring smile. “She’s the only one who can really help me with this magic stuff. And if I wanna ever be able to control it then, well I need a teacher right?” Snow frowned down at her cereal.

“But, I thought she was still mad at you? Over the whole, Robin - Marion thing?” In truth, Emma had thought so too. But the whole, her almost dying in the ice, thing, had seemed to thaw them out a little.

“Apparently not,” Emma shrugged. David put a comforting hand on his wife’s shoulder, giving her a soft smile.

“Snow, Emma wants to do it, and Regina has agreed to help. Other than Gold, who is going to teacher her?” Snow made a face at that and Emma could see her mother conceding.

“I guess so. We can trust her more than him at least.” Her words made Emma’s insides squirm uncomfortably. After everything did her mother really still have doubts about Regina? Emma’s had pretty much completely evaporated at this point. They had even started to become, well, not friendly but, amicable at the very least.

“You still don’t trust her?” Emma asked, her brows knitting together as she peered at her mother over the brim of her cup.

“No no, of course I do.” Emma could practically see her back peddling as fast as she could.

“I think your mother is just concerned. Magic can be unpredictable,” interjected David, stopping Snow in the middle of her babbling attempt to take it back.

“I…just… be careful okay?” Emma smiled, draining the rest of her coffee and gave a small nod.

“I will Mom. I’ll see you guys later, unless Regina kills me,” she said with a grin, throwing a wink at her dad as Snow groaned and let her head flop into her hands.

 

Emma hopped into her bug, shutting the door with a snap before starting up the engine. It took a couple of tries. Even her trusty bug didn’t seem keen on the plan. She had to admit, she had reservations. She wouldn’t blame Regina if she was still angry at her. After all, Emma had, though not directly, sort of been part of tearing apart Regina’s happy ending. Sometimes she had wondered though, had it really been that much of a happy ending? Regina had thought she was happy, but every time Emma had seen her and Robin together there had seemed almost to be something clouding the sparkle in her eye. As though the older woman had known that it wasn’t going to last, as though she was holding back for some reason. Emma had always had her little super power, and some how Regina and Robin had always made it tingle. It had been like they were trying to convince themselves of something.

This hadn’t stopped Regina wanting to flay her alive however when Robin had left with Marion and Roland. And Emma could hardly blame her. Robin had left. He’d chosen Marion over Regina and she had needed someone other than him to blame for it. It had been weird, more than, not speaking to the other woman. They’d almost grown close, even a little friendly. And then this, well, Emma had felt it, the loss of her presence. In a way she wasn’t yet sure how to describe. She had been almost surprised Regina had come to save her from the ice Elsa had trapped her in, though in hindsight she was fairly sure it was because Henry had gone running to her. Ever since then, since Emma had almost died, the two women had been on speaking terms again. And now she had agreed to teach her magic. Albeit somewhat reluctantly.

She pulled up in the parking lot of the churchyard, getting out of the car and locking it. Her chest seemed to be fluttering a little. What would Regina have in store for her? And would she spend the entire lesson glaring at her, or were they past that? She really didn’t have a clue. She was fairly sure that the little ice scare had kind of, smoothed stuff over. She guessed that nearly dying would do that to a person. Either way, she needed to learn magic and her only other option was, well, Gold. And that wold never happen. She didn’t trust him as far as she could spit and whilst her and Regina had certainly been through a lot, the difference was, that at her core, Regina was a good person, and they had built a bond. She couldn’t say the same for Gold. He’d proved too many times that he wasn’t trustworthy. No, this was not something she’d trust with him. 

She made her way over to the door of the crypt and pushed it open, descending the stairs into the dimly lit chambers below.

“Regina?” she called, looking around as her eyes slowly adjusted to the difference in the light. “You down here?”

“In the main chamber,” came her voice, bouncing off the stone walls in an echo that, if Emma wasn’t mistaken, sounded decidedly despondent. She followed the echo to find Regina, poring over a large book, bound in dark leather. It looked, well it looked ancient. Like if she touched the pages too hard they would crumble underwear fingers. And if Emma was honest it probably was. God only knew how many sorcerers it had been passed down to over the years.

“We’re not gonna be doing book learning are we because I’ve never been great at that,” Emma said with a sheepish grin, hands shoved deep in her pockets as she looked around. Regina rolled her eyes.

“I had guessed,” she said dryly. “We willbe taking a more practical approach with your learning. I think we have found that it suits you best.” As much as Emma wanted to argue, she couldn’t. The woman was right. She opened her mouth to reply but Regina continued before she got the chance. “I know you’ve been able to produce powerful magic under threat of danger but you can’t rely on feeling afraid enough that it just explodes out of you. You need to learn to summon that power at will.” Emma nodded, folding her arms across herself.

“So, how do we do that?” she asked. She had the feeling this wouldn’t be easy.

“Follow me,” Regina said, closing the book with a snap and passing Emma to make her way upstairs. Apparently they wouldn’t be using anything from here. Emma had to admit, she was a little relieved.

She followed the former queen up the stairs and out into the cold sunlight, squinting a little to adjust after the gloom of the world below.

“You luring me into the forest to kill me?” she joked, jogging a little to catch up. Damn the woman could walk fast in heals! Regina smirked, throwing her a glance out of the corner of her eye.

“Just somewhere where you won’t accidentally blow up half the town’s dead relatives. And my father’s tomb to boot” she smirked, a hint of humour in her eyes. “Plus I’m over trying to kill you. You’re annoyingly hard to get rid of and it takes up far too much of my time and energy,” she added. She was joking of course but, in a way it was sort of true. She’d spent so long trying to get rid of Emma she wasn’t sure when she had stopped trying, when she’d just come to accept that she would be part of her life forever now. Even the latest fiasco hadn’t had them quarrelling for long. Not really. Not as long as she would have thought. Perhaps she had been less in love with Robin than she had thought. But now was not the time for thinking of such things. She had more important matters to attend to. Like making sure Miss Swan didn’t cause some kind of explosion with her rather wild and uncontrolled magic.

She stopped in a small clearing after a short walk, the trees parting in a natural opening, the stream running through them. It was the perfect place. Enough room to practice, and far away enough that no damage would be done to any structures of the town.

“Okay,” Regina said, stopping and turning to face her. “Tell me, when you’ve used magic before, what has the overriding feeling been before you cast? The emotion that made it possible?” Emma hesitated. Opening up about emotions was not something she was fond of. She never had been. Admissions of emotion tended to burst from her in moments of anger or frustration, not when asked for. She looked from the woman down at her feet, studying the grass under her boots intently as she mumbled a response so quiet Regina raised a brow at her.

“You’ll have to speak up dear. I don’t speak mumble.” Emma sighed irritably.

“Fear. Fear every time has been what’s brought it out. And that makes me uncomfortable alright?” Was it just her, or had Regina’s expression softened, just a little.

“That’s not unusual,” she said, her tone not unkind. “Fear, and anger are the two most common.”

“So what? I can only do magic when I’m shitting myself?” Emma snapped. A smirk pulled at the corner of Regina’s mouth.

“I should hope not? That would be wildly inconvenient.” Seeing Emma about to snap at her again Regina wiped the smirk from her face. “It just means that you need to learn how to harness that fear, and turn it into something productive. And also how to rein it in, because the last thing you want to do is risk hurting someone when you’re afraid.” Having magic as an explosive force inside you, it was different to learning it, to drawing it into yourself. In truth she didn’t have any idea what it must feel like. Emma crossed her arms, still clearly uncomfortable and exposed.

“And how do I do that?” Regina thought for a moment, her brows pulled together.

“Think of something, a memory, or a scenario that makes you afraid. It can be anything, a memory like from Neverland, or a hypothetical.” She watched as Emma remained tense, clearly not entirely happy about having to dredge up such memories.

“How…” Emma paused, sighing. “How do I pick something that won’t just… cause some terrified explosion?” she asked. Regina knew that fear, that fear of choosing the wrong memory, the wrong thought, that would only lead to sheer terror, and a loss of control. She nodded, hands clasped in front of her to prevent herself from fidgeting. She still wasn’t very good at displaying weakness herself. Not to anyone really. The image of the two of them standing opposite each other, forcing themselves to be open and honest, must have been one of spectacular awkwardness.

“I can help you control it,” she said, taking a step forwards. “I won’t let it get out of control, okay?” Emma finally looked up at her, meeting her gaze. She didn’t say anything, just gave a small nod.

“I have a memory…” she said, her voice quieter than normal. Regina nodded.

“Tell me about it,” she said, studying the other woman’s face. Emma swallowed.

“Neverland…” she said. “There were nights… moments… when I feared that we wouldn’t get him back.” She felt her heart clench in her chest. Occasionally, after a hard day, she still had nightmares about that. She nodded, encouraging her to continue. “It was terrifying. I felt like…. Like someone was squeezing my heart, stopping me breathing.” Emma could feel it again now, feel the terror building at even the idea of it, crawling up in her chest like a parasite, making her sick.

“That fear, that feeling in your chest, it’s energy,” Regina said. “Take it, hold it in your hands, remove it from your chest, and instead of paralysing you, it will be useful to you.” Emma nodded, a look of determination replacing the sadness in her eyes as she did as she was told, and sure enough her hands started to glow. They were surrounded by a pure white light, sparkling as it slowly formed a ball of energy in her hands. Emma grinned as she looked down.

“I’m doing it!” she grinned. “Holy crap!” Regina took a cautionary step backwards, though there was a little smirk on her face. She was impressed she had to admit.

“You can aim and release it,” she said, flicking her wrist so that a target appeared on the trunk of a tree. Emma released it, watching as the ball of energy smashed into it. She let out a whoop, throwing her hands in the air in celebration.

“Not bad Emma, not bad,” Regina chuckled. Emma turned around to face her, a little smirk on her face. She was clearly pleased with herself.

“High praise from the queen herself,” she grinned, making Regina roll her eyes.

“Well for your first lesson, yes I’m rather impressed. I was half expecting to get blown up in all honesty,” she admitted, making Emma snort.

“Nah. We’ve been done with that crap for a while,” she said with a little smile. Regina nodded. She had to admit, she was in agreement with that.


End file.
